- Rendez-vous de l'Institut
- Conference
L’art du jardin arabo-andalou by Agnès du VACHAT – Château de Bénouville
The art of Arabo-Andalusian gardens
Originally from Persia, the Arabic art of gardens found excellent potential for expression in southern Spain during the Middle Ages. Through examples such as Alhambra in Granada and Alcázar of Seville, this conference will present the characteristic features of the art of Arabo-Andalusian gardens (water and fountains, ornamental plants, kiosks and colourful ceramic decors) and will offer a retrospective view of the fascination these gardens generated among artists and travellers in the Romantic period.
Agnès du Vachat
Agnès du Vachat is a garden historian and philosophy lecturer, who acts as associate researcher at the National Graduate Landscaping School research laboratory in Versailles. She has taught garden and landscape history in the aforementioned school, where she also presented a thesis in Landscape and architectural science entitled “L’émergence du paysage espagnol à travers les récits des voyageurs français (1650-1936) (The emergence of Spanish landscape through tales of French travellers (1650-1936) for which she received a research grant at the Casa de Velasquez (Madrid). Her research focuses on the critical fortune of Arabo-Andalousian gardens in art, the literature and art of gardens and on the work of Ferdinand Bac (Michel Baridon grant awarded by the Comité des Parcs et Jardins de France).
Further reading :
Culture et Paysage : le jardin méditerranéen de Ferdinand Bac, éditions Petit Génie, 2017